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Review
Poco Shines, But Not at Rock
by Divina Infusino, Milwaukee Journal
Poco may have surprised some of the 2,000 persons at the Performing Arts Center’s Uihlen Hall Wednesday night. In addition to its expected country-flavored tunes of old and its light-hearted, soft-stepping hits of recent years, the 11-year-old band to put out some hard rock sounds. These songs, such as “Steal Away” did not dominate the 80-minute concert however and the audience seemed glad of it. The laid-back crowd responded coolly at first to the heartier rock numbers early in the set. Though competently performed, they were basically undistiguishable from a million other bands.
But the audience became enthusiastic when Poco demonstrated what they excel at – an un-self-conscious intensity evoked by the lead guitar of Paul Cotton and the pedal steel and slide guitar playing of Rusty Young, the only member of the original band.
Cotton’s rolling guitar lines sailed in and out of all the numbers. He exhibited light but sensitive vocals as he played an acoustic guitar in an old country-rocker, “Bad Weather.” Young charmed the audience with his easy, homespun manner and distinctive, softly lilting voice on such songs as “Crazy Love.” His mastery pedal steel solos lifted numbers such as “In the Heart of the Night” well above the level of the average mellow song.
Young revealed a vigorous, compelling passion on the slide guitar during the best number of the night, “Rose of Cimarron.” In this arrangement, Cotton’s rousing lead guitar interacted with Kim Bullard’s keyboards, Charlie Harrison’s bass and Steve Chapman’s drums to enhance Young’s inspired solo. From this point on, the audience was sold on Poco. the band was called back for two encores, which included the sprightly country kicker, “Hoedown.”